Bringer of War
by JDunks896
Summary: A sequel to Goddess of Strife. Marinette had finally gotten a tremendous weight off her back with the defeat of Hawk Moth. However, the Butterfly Miraculous has been stolen... again. Marinette's time as Eris will likely prove valuable against this new villain. Rated T just in case. Contains a LOT of OOCness. Currently on hiatus while I rewrite the prequel.
1. Vixen

**By popular request, the sequel to Goddess of Strife... which is somehow still getting favorites and follows despite being complete. You people are awesome. Now, let's see where we left off, shall we? Vixen was created by Anonymous751.**

**…**

Adrien smirked at Nooroo floating in front of him. "It's a shame I couldn't get Duusu as well, but I suppose she's still undergoing repairs, isn't she? Oh well, I'm sure I can get what I want with just you."

He pinned the brooch onto his t-shirt, hiding it under his button-up. "After all, with the power to give people any superpower I can imagine... I can finally make the world the way it's supposed to be. Mother will be back, Father will appreciate me, Marinette will love me... everything will finally be correct. Nooroo, Dark Wings Rise!"

In a brilliant flash of light, the new Butterfly villain stepped forwards, grinning maliciously. "Now... might as well get some practice in. And I think I know the perfect target..."

…

Completely unaware of this, Marinette was walking to the Couffaine houseboat to visit Luka and Juleka. The other heroes would be meeting there shortly to discuss their next course of action. Since Adrien had stolen the Butterfly Miraculous, she had no doubt whatsoever that he would start akumatizing people right away. The only question was who, and when.

She waved brightly to Anarka, receiving a merry, "Hello, Marinette!" in return, and entered Luka's room. "Luka, Juleka, hey! Is it clear?"

Luka nodded, and Tikki immediately shout out of her purse. "Plagg! Pollen!"

The other two kwamis spiralled out of Luka's sock drawer, followed by a small blue octopus. Marinette grinned. "Skolopendra! How's Anarka treating you?"

Skolopendra warbled happily, adjusting the tiny necklace that Master Fu had transferred his Amok into. Anarka had happily taken the sentimonster in after the... Eris Fiasco, for lack of a better term, had been properly explained to her.

There was a knock on the door. Juleka opened it, allowing Rose and Marc entrance. Rose immediately squealed and tackled Juleka in a hug. The bearer of the Bee Miraculous laughed. "R-Rose! C'mon!"

"No! We haven't seen each other in an hour! I'm just properly greeting you, that's all!"

Wayzz flew out of Rose's purse, smiling. "It's no use, Ms. Juleka. Rose never stops ranting about how much she likes you."

Rose winced. "Oh, Wayzz, I'm so sorry! I didn't realize I was bothering you!"

Wayzz waved his little paw. "Not to worry, Ms. Rose, you're much better than the wielder I had in Greece. Ugh, how Athena used to rant about the other Olympians, I swear-"

Marc cut him off. "Wait, the Olympians like the mythological gods?"

Wayzz laughed. "They weren't gods. They were the first true superhero team! The myths of the Titans actually came from that- the Olympians used the powers of our Miraculi to fight against an evil warlock who had stolen Duusu and used her powers to create an army of sentimonsters. Athena was the bearer of the Turtle."

Luka leaned into the conversation. "Who else had Miraculi back then?"

Plagg grinned. "I can answer that. Luka, one of your predecessors was Hercules!"

"So good to know I've got the same Miraculous as the guy who went mad and killed off his family."

Marinette shook her head fondly, then picked up her phone, noticing the news headline. "New akumatized villain attacks, Ryuko on scene. Huh, looks like she's doing a good job. Regardless... we should probably help, shouldn't we?"

Juleka grinned. "Pollen, Buzz On!"

Honeybee was standing there in an instant. She looked mostly like Juleka in Queen Bee's suit, more stripes crossing her chest, the purple tips of her hair now a bright yellow.

Luka smirked. "Guess that decision's been made. Plagg, Claws Out!"

Alley Cat's outfit was not like Adrien's had been- a black sleeveless top with green patterns, a much fluffier tail... that was actually a tail that Luka could feel, weirdly, and his hair dye had turned neon green. Other than that, he pretty much looked like Cat Noir.

Rose's transformation gave her a suit similar to Carapace's, with the addition of brown knee and arm guards, no hood, and an actual mask instead of goggles.

Marc kept his hoodie, except it was now in orange and white, and fox ears were sown into the hood. A _really fluffy_ fox tail twitched in time with Marc's breathing.

Ladybug looked literally the same as usual, except she now had pockets. She smirked. "Let's go wreck Adrien's lackey."

…

Ryuko was obviously doing a good job, because civilians had become nonexistent in the battle zone. As for Ryuko herself, she was looking more tired. The wind and lightning sections on her costume were dull, signifying she'd used them. She looked up at Ladybug, then grimaced. "You... might not like this."

The akuma stepped up, and to Ladybug's surprise (and irritation), Rena Rouge was the one glaring at her. "LADYBUG! HEAR ME! I AM VIXEN, THE TRUE FOX! AND I'M GOING TO RECLAIM MY MIRACULOUS FROM THAT FAKE!"

Ladybug facepalmed. "I don't have time for this. Fennec?"

He wordlessly brought his flute to his lips, but Vixen was already moving. "ILLUSION!"

In a burst of orange light, suddenly her entire team looked exactly like Vixen, and she was willing to bet she did as well. "Huh. That's gonna be inconvenient."

The Vixen that was probably Ryuko smirked. "Not necessarily. Get the Aqua power-ups."

Then her body dissolved into liquid. "Water Dragon!"

Ryuko splashed over the heroes, washing the illusions out of existence, then hurling herself straight at Vixen, trapping the akuma in a massive water bubble.

Alley Cat raised a hand. "How long is that gonna last?"

Ladybug had already grabbed the tiny box of macaroons she took everywhere she could. "Well, provided Ryuko doesn't drop her water transformation and start her timer... we've got time. C'mon, power up."

It took two minutes for this to be achieved, and Vixen had burst the surface of the bubble of Ryuko she was swimming in, gasping for breath. "That... is... really... unpleasant! Ew, I'm swimming in a person!"

Ladybug smirked as she dove into the bubble. "You've got bigger issues! Aqua Lucky Charm!"

In a burst of light, she was holding... "What the heck is this?"

Tortuga took a look, then her face brightened. "Oh, I know what it is! It's one of those sheets that optometrists use to test your eyesight!"

"Eyesight... I know where the akuma is! Alley Cat, destroy her mask!"

"Good thing this doesn't affect water! Aqua Cataclysm!"

Honeybee rolled her eyes. "Is the 'Aqua' really necessary?"

"You try it, then."

"Venom!" Nothing happened. "Okay, guess it is. You want her to hold still?"

"That would be nice."

"_Excellent_. Fennec, Tortuga, containment procedures!"

Tortuga practically rocketed out of the Ryuko bubble and brandished her shield. "Aqua Shellter!"

Green light flared into existence, wrapping around the gigantic water sphere and preventing anyone from getting in or out. Which wasn't a problem for the heroes who could currently breathe underwater, but for Vixen...

The supervillain twirled her flute like a conductor's baton, clearly trying to summon another illusion, but Fennec beat her to it. "Aqua Mirage!"

The oldest trick in the illusionary book came to life, thousands of duplicates of the heroes floating in the water. Vixen snarled and lashed out, destroying a Honeybee with her flute, completely oblivious to the real deal swimming up behind her. "Aqua Venom!"

Vixen spun, but it was too late. The stinger pierced her shoulder, and she froze, completely immobile. Fennec grinned. "That was easy. We're all good here, Tortuga! Reality!"

The illusions vanished, the Shellter was quickly dispelled, and Ryuko resolidified with the beeping sound that was the beginning of her timer. "Alley Cat, if you would?"

The Cat hero smirked and tapped a finger against Vixen's mask, turning it to dust and exposing Alya's face, before the akuma flapped out of the dust heap, making a bid for freedom-

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma."

Ladybug released the purified butterfly, then grabbed the... whatever Tortuga had said the Lucky Charm was. "Miraculous Ladybug!"

Her little minions scattered throughout the city, restoring everything to pristine condition and wiping Alya's memories of being Vixen. Then she frowned. "As long as Alya knows she was ever a Fox wielder, this could happen again... what d'you guys think?"

There was a few seconds of muttered discussion, before the heroes came up with, "Let her keep her memories for now, and if she's akumatized again, erase any evidence that Rena Rouge ever existed."

…

Luka frowned once they were all back at the houseboat. "Wait, how would we erase any evidence of Rena Rouge?"

Plagg grinned. "Oh, you're gonna love this, kid. The Cat Miraculous has another power- I never told Cat Noir because, let's face it, he'd totally abuse it to make Ladybug love him, but you'll probably use it wisely."

Rose grinned. "Ooh! Tell us!"

"It's called Disastrous Catastrophe. Just like how Miraculous Ladybug recreates everything that was destroyed during akuma attacks, Disastrous Catastrophe can destroy anything you specify- for instance, 'evidence that Rena Rouge exists' would erase everything that falls under that category- memories, electronic proof, old newspaper articles would all be replaced by something else or just destroyed outright."

Luka stared. "That seems... kinda overpowered."

"Oh yeah, you'll need to feed me _all_ the camembert in Paris, but it's a balance. We aren't as powerful as Ladybug, but our abilities are a lot simpler in exchange. Ladybugs can't control what they create or what they fix, but a Cat can control what they destroy."

Marinette nodded, her expression pensive. "Alright... it sounds pretty exhausting, so we'll only use Disastrous Catastrophe if we don't have another option. For now... we just hope that Alya won't get akumatized. But that does bring up another issue."

Five eyebrows were raised, so she continued. "The LadyBlog might have been an effective warning system before, but now it's just a glorified tabloid. We need some way for the public to alert us to akuma attacks so we can resolve them quickly."

Juleka raised her hand. "What about a new website? We could add links that would let people send warnings directly to our weapons."

"Not bad, but people could just use it to spam mail us, right?"

Kagami nodded. "We could just make a site where people can post stuff. Warnings, questions... it would be good to expand our public presence a little, right?"

"Sounds good. Let's do it. Marc, can you handle that?"

Marc shrugged. "I can probably get it done quick if Trixx helps."

Trixx poked his head out of Marc's pocket. "I'll help!"

The group nodded, then began leaving the houseboat, never once realizing something was... amiss.

…

A teenage boy stood silently beside the Seine, the wind whipping his long brown hair into a frenzy, before another teen, this one female, stepped out from behind him. "It's just like you said. Ladybug's got new allies."

The boy nodded. "It's good to see she's found someone to rely on. Do they know how they're going to deal with Ms. Cesaire?"

"Yeah. Alley Cat's got some kinda power that'll erase any evidence of Rena Rouge ever existing, even if it's a memory. We'd better get some protections set up."

"You are aware we don't have anything nearly sufficient to protect us from the powers of a Miraculous, correct?"

"I'll just badger Aunt Marianne. She'll probably have something."

"...very well. Have you figured out where Ladybug lives?"

"Ugh, I feel like a stalker just _answering_ that. Yeah, I did. She lives above that really good bakery run by the really big man."

"Oh, good. We can send you, and you won't even be there under false pretences. Good work. You'd better get some rest."

"'Kay. What're you gonna do?"

"Well, we know where she goes to school, right? I think it's time for me to make a transfer."

**…**

**Gasp! Random teenagers are stalking the Miraculous team! And they know that Alya was Rena Rouge! What does this mean?!... they're allies of the heroes. You know they are because I can't be subtle to save my life. Until next time, stay tuned!**


	2. Wraparound

**Chapter 2. Credit for Wraparound's goes to leafgreenflower. Alyssa, however, is my character.**

**…**

Alyssa was a perfectly normal elementary school student, if you left out the fact that she was currently being ridiculed for being scared of a movie.

The boy cackled maliciously. "Seriously, it's just a mummy! I can't believe you're such a coward, even if you are a girl! Grow up!"

And he shoved her into the wall before walking away, leaving her to sniffle, neither of them aware of the little black and green butterfly entering the girl's locket.

_Wraparound, I am Grayling. You've been mocked for fear, the simplest and most understandable human emotion. I'd like to give you the opportunity to make them all understand you. However, in return, I require one of the hero's Miraculous._

Wraparound lifted her head, smirking darkly. "You got it, Mr. Grayling!"

Dark smog consumed her, and as the boy turned around at the sound of her voice, he was promptly silenced by the little girl's new appearance, wrapped entirely with white linen, except for a pair of eyeholes. Ten long dark threads extended, one from each fingertip, and her locket gleamed silver on her chest. "You think mummies aren't scary?_ Let's prove that theory_!"

She lashed out with a wave of her hand, and the boy screamed as his clothes shifted around him, denim and cotton weaving around him, trapping him in a skintight cocoon.

…

Elsewhere, Grayling frowned. "Wait, their costumes are spandex and leather, how is this gonna- eh. It'll work out, and then my lady will love me again once I'm her Cat Noir!"

…

Marinette frowned as Marc's phone buzzed. "What was that?"

He looked at it. "Oh, I almost forgot, Trixx and I finished making the website. He can tie it into your kwamis later- Akuma Alert. Someone named Nadia Purgatrio. Apparently it's her little sister Alyssa... who can trap people in fabric cocoons. We'd better go."

"Right. We'll leave from the trapdoor. Alert the others. Tikki, Spots On!"

"Trixx, Let's Pounce!"

Ladybug and Fennec took to the rooftops, joined a minute later by Honeybee and Tortuga, both sporting irritated looks. "We were on a date! You'd think Adrien would wait a little while!"

…

They arrived at the scene, and were instantly alarmed by what they saw. People cocooned in their own clothing, lying all over the pavement, and some of them were attached to light posts. Tortuga inhaled. "Holy crap, what happened to this kid?"

Threads struck the ground between the heroes, and four streaks of colour promptly sprang away from the site of impact, the akuma floating downwards- wait, no, she was just balancing on strings emerging from her feet. "Ladybug! I am Wraparound! Give me your Miraculous!"

Ladybug rolled her eyes. "Jeez, like father like son. Where's the other two?"

Honeybee sprang towards the villain. "Let's see how you like this! Venom!"

Wraparound simply flicked her hands, threads whipping through the air and trapping the bee hero in a net of strings. "No."

Honeybee grunted. "This was not part of the plan! Reinforcements, please!"

The air promptly solidified into a leaping Ryuko, slashing through the strings with her sword. The dragon heroine landed with a grin. "And that is how you make a proper dramatic entrance!"

Alley Cat pounced on the akuma, deftly dodging lashing threads. "Eh, I prefer the old-fashioned way."

Wraparound scowled. "No fair! Ganging up on me is cheating!"

"...you're the bad guy! How is this cheating?!"

"You're gonna win if you team up!"

"That's the idea! Lightning Dragon!"

Ladybug gasped. "Ryuko, wait-"

Ryuko did not wait, instead firing an absolutely massive blast of lightning from her sword, blasting Wraparound against the school's wall.

"...Ryuko, you just blasted an eight-year-old!"

The heroine threw her arms up in protest. "She's an akuma! Besides, her outfit isn't made of conductive material! She'll be fine!"

Threads lashed out and snapped around her. "See?"

Wraparound waved her hands like a puppeteer, smashing Ryuko into the ground, then a light post, then a building... you get the picture.

Ladybug huffed. "Okay, this has gone on long enough. Guys?"

Honeybee grinned, holding up her arm, still wielding Venom. "We'll distract her. You use your Lucky Charm. Tortuga!"

"Right!"

The two charged, Honeybee's stinger pulsing. "Eat this!"

Wraparound glared and began using Ryuko as a wrecking ball. The two heroes dodged, springing wildly around her, little more than blurs.

Meanwhile, Ladybug had hurled her yo-yo into the air. "Lucky Charm!"

The ladybugs swirled together, and a picture fell into Ladybug's hand- a little girl with curly black hair, grinning toothily at the camera, with an older girl laughing beside her. "Oh! This must be her sister... I know what to do! Fennec, I need you to make a Mirage!"

"I got it. Mirage!"

…

Wraparound was winding up to swing Ryuko again, when a voice interrupted them. "Alyssa?"

The villain turned around, her eyes wide. "Nadi?"

The laughing girl from the picture stood there, smiling. "Yeah. Hey, sis."

The younger girl descended to the ground, looking around at the carnage she'd wreaked. "Did... did I do something bad?"

Nadia rested a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Yeah, you did. But it's okay, 'Lyssa. Ladybug can fix it. You just need to give her your akuma. Do you know where it is?"

Alyssa, no longer Wraparound, frowned for a moment, then slowly removed her locket, handing it to her sister. Nadia nodded and held it out for Alley Cat's Cataclysm-equipped hand for disintegrate. The black and green butterfly flipped free, winging it for all it was worth-

"No more evildoing for you, little akuma!"

If the butterfly could scream in frustration, it probably would have as Ladybug's yo-yo captured it. The teenage hero grinned triumphantly as she released the insect. "Bye-bye, little butterfly! Miraculous Ladybug!"

A whirling loveliness of ladybugs swirled across the street, unsewing people's clothes and setting them free, restoring any damage the fight had caused, and restoring the little girl to her normal appearance. Ladybug smiled and held out a hand for Nadia to shake. "Thanks for helping us with that."

Nadia nodded. "Don't mention it. Thanks for saving my sister."

Alyssa timidly leaned into her sister's side, a far cry from the vicious supervillain. "T-thank you, Miss Ladybug."

"No problem. Incidentally, if you don't mind... what caused you to be akumatized?"

Alyssa tried to hide behind Nadia, but the older girl easily forced her back out. "'Lyssa, you aren't going to get in trouble. The ones who should be in trouble are the ones who made you upset."

Alyssa was quiet for another moment, then spoke. "O-one of the kids in my class was being really mean. The t-teacher was showing us a movie a-and there was a mummy, a-and I couldn't help it! It was r-really scary! B-but no one else was afraid, so t-they just laughed at me! A-and then Mister Grayling told me he would help me, b-but he was lying!"

Ladybug's brows furrowed as she glared up at the school. "I think I need to have a talk with your classmates."

…

One merciless lecture on why bullying was bad that reduced an entire classroom to tears of shame later, the heroes were meeting up in Marinette's room. "Okay, first Alya was Vixen, but she didn't seem as strong as she could have been."

Luka made a note on the large piece of paper they were making notes on. "It's possible he was just testing his limits, seeing what kind of powers he could and couldn't give."

"Right. Then he makes Wraparound, a more powerful villain who's able to swing Kagami around like she weighs nothing, and that was after she took a lightning bolt to the torso."

"Please, do not remind me of that. It was not one of my proudest moments."

"Understandable. So it looks like we'll be facing more powerful akumas in the future, especially if Adrien's getting used to his new Miraculous."

"That's about the sound of it."

Marinette nodded. "Then we need to prepare. I'll get in touch with Master Fu about taking out some of the Miraculous for training purposes. Since we don't currently have any temporary wielders, some of us might have to try and use multiple Miraculous at the same time. It's supposed to be dangerous, but as long as we keep those instances few and far between-"

Her phone buzzed. "Huh. Speaking of Master Fu- oh my."

Rose frowned concernedly. "What is it, Marinette?"

"Well, that's that problem solved."

Marinette grinned. "Master Fu wants to officially trust me with the Miracle Box."

There was silence for a moment, then Luka grinned. "Well then. All hail Ladybug, Guardian of the Miraculous."

…

Marinette arrived at the massage parlour that evening for the ritual. "But Master, why are you trusting me with the Miraculous?"

Fu sighed. "I am old, Marinette. Nooroo was stolen from right under my nose almost immediately after we retrieved him from Hawk Moth. I cannot properly care for the Miraculous anymore. I will not simply stand by. I will do what I can to assist and guide your team. But it is for the best that the Miracle Box leave my possession and enter yours."

"...alright, Master."

Fu nodded and opened all the containers on the box, before sitting in a meditative position. The kwamis all spiralled out of the box. Kaalki frowned. "Are we gonna have enough for the ritual?"

Duusu nodded. "Don't worry, Kaalki! We only need twelve kwamis, and I can easily take Longg's place for this!"

Fu nodded and held up his hands. "I, Wang Fu, Guardian of the Miraculous, do acknowledge my shortcomings! I declare before the kwamis now that I can no longer be their protector! I now select my successor, and allow the Miraculous to pass onto her! Behold Ladybug, Miracle Box! And judge her worthy to be your Guardian!"

The Miracle Box blazed with every colour of the rainbow, red designs and dark wood fading, replaced with pink. Within moments, the Box had taken on its new appearance: a spherical shape, bright pink with designs in dark magenta, opening to reveal neat little velvet containers in which the Miraculi were resting. Marinette grinned. "It's perfect!"

Fu nodded and attempted to stand, then suddenly collapsed. "Oh dear. That took a little more out of me than I expected."

"Not to worry, Master. I know just the remedy."

…

Sabine smiled warmly as she walked over to the little old man sitting at her kitchen table. "Would you like some more tea?"

**…**

**And... that happened! Wraparound was cleansed, though I doubt this'll be the last time she gets akumatized. And Marinette is the Guardian of the Miraculous. I decided not to do what they did in the show, because even if Master Fu isn't fit enough the guard the Miraculi, he can still be pretty helpful, so he's keeping his memories of the Miraculous, and staying at Marinette's house where he can be protected more easily. Adrien's... really stupid in this, but he's smart enough to realize what an advantage it would be to have Fu as a captive. And that's pretty much it, so... stay tuned!**

**Next Chapter: Pink Slip**


	3. Pink Slip

**Chapter 3. In which we learn some things! Pink Slip was created by ReptileGirl497 and is based off of the character Elizabeth Veritas from my Pokémon fic (also credited to ReptileGirl497), if anyone wants to give that a look.**

**…**

Liz groaned as she stretched out on the floor. "Ugh. Wooooork."

Her door opened, and a younger boy with bright blue hair walked in. "Hey, Liz. Lemme guess, job issues?"

"You know it. Seriously, I've got to take an offer for my stupid class and I can't qualify for over half of them yet because I haven't taken the required programs! And I've still got school to keep up with! Rrgh, I just wish I could-"

**_Figure out what to do?_**

The boy gasped as a purple butterfly symbol blazed into existence in front of Liz's face.

**_Pink Slip, I am Grayling. I can offer you the skills to take ANY job of your choosing... literally. All I ask is that you bring me Alley Cat's Miraculous._**

Dark smog rolled over Liz, leaving the villain behind. "It's my pleasure, Grayling!"

Pink Slip turned around with a smirk, never noticing the boy that had fled the room in such a hurry.

…

Ladybug had been on patrol when she'd gotten the akuma details, and was swinging to check out the villain's apartment, when she'd gotten hungry. So naturally, she detransformed and walked into the local burger joint.

Luka caught up with her a moment later. "Hey! You wanna get burgers?"

Marinette grinned. "That's why I'm here."

They walked up to the front counter, and a perky girl with spiky pink hair grinned at them, her nametag reading 'Liz'. "Welcome to RickFunnels! What can I get you?"

A boy walked up a moment later, moving a blue-dyed bang out of his eye. "Oh, Liz! You're deakumatized! And you found a job!"

Marinette stared for a second as this quickly came together: I am in the same room as the akuma, and I am not transformed.

She solved this rather easily. "OW! Luka, get me to the bathroom, right now!"

Luka blinked, then realized exactly what was happening and had to stop himself from laughing. "Right, right, just a sec."

Thirty seconds later, having escaped through the bathroom windows, Ladybug and Alley Cat sprang into the shop, and immediately noticed that the villain was no longer present. "Where'd she-"

The manager poked his head out of the kitchen, scowling. "Would you two have something to do with my employee breaking out the back door, running out onto the street, and punching a motorcyclist in the face?"

They ran out just in time to see Pink Slip resting her hand against the man's neck and absorbing something- you guessed it- pink from him. An instant later, light rolled over her form, turning her RickFunnels employee uniform into leather motorcycling clothes, complete with helmet.

She hopped onto the unconscious man's motorcycle, grinning and shooting the heroes a jaunty salute. "Better luck next time, slowpokes!"

Ladybug stared, quite unimpressed, as Pink Slip drove off. "She's aware we have superhuman speed, strength, and agility, right?"

Alley Cat laughed.

…

Five seconds later, the two were following Pink Slip over the rooftops, and Ladybug had sent out an alert to her team. Another five seconds later, a miniature dust devil swirled onto the road, whirling around the bike and flinging its unfortunate rider away.

Ryuko materialized with a self-satisfied smirk. "One positive aspect to being a tornado is your ability to throw things long distances."

Pink Slip grimaced, then suddenly smirked. "I guess I'll get to see that for myself!"

She lashed out and grabbed Ryuko's ankle. Nothing happened.

The villain was quiet for a moment. Then, in utter fury, she roared: "Seriously, Grayling?! The one skill I can't steal is having superpowers?!"

"Lightning Dragon!"

A blast of electricity sent Pink Slip flying towards a passing vehicle, which the villain quickly latched onto, cackling as she was pulled away by it.

Ryuko blinked. "Oh. My apologies. I'm not usually that clumsy when I'm shooting lightning bolts."

Ladybug shrugged. "Eh. We all have our bad days. Where are the others?"

"On route, as far as I'm aware. We should probably hurry."

"Agreed."

…

They caught up with Pink Slip just outside City Hall just in time for the big TV screen to light up, revealing Andre Bourgeois duct-taped to the wall wearing only his undergarments. Pink Slip sat in his chair, wearing a stylishly cut pantsuit. "Attention, Paris! I am Pink Slip, your new mayor, and I hereby declare Ladybug and the Miraculous superhero team must relinquish their Miraculous to me! If they do not do so, they shall be pursued to the full extent of the law!"

The police officers station around the hall looked at each other, then simultaneously pointed their firearms at the heroes. Ryuko stared. "...do they not see that the mayor has been replaced by an akuma?"

Ladybug shrugged. "Well, they turned on us when Rogercop became Supreme Dictator of Paris. Given that Pink Slip made everyone at RickFunnels think she was a legitimate employee, she might have some kind of-"

She was interrupted as bullets began to fly, and she began spinning her yo-yo into a shield. Alley Cat followed her lead with his staff, while Ryuko sprang behind them. "I'll try to knock some of them down when they run out of ammo!"

Ladybug nodded in approval, and as soon as there was a lull in the firing, the dragon hero somersaulted over Alley Cat's head and bashed the hilt of her sword into a policeman's head. Ladybug followed in her wake, yo-yo lashing out and smashing the weapons of the law enforcement agents.

And then reinforcements arrived, Honeybee's trompo skittering across the ground around the legs of several policemen, before she pulled the string in her hand, her weapon's cord wrapping tight around them and creating the first eight-man mummy costume. Fennec's flute bashed another man over the head.

Tortuga stood with her arms crossed and refused to assist in the melee. "They haven't done anything wrong! They're just being manipulated!"

A bullet struck Honeybee's arm and bounced off the magical spandex. Tortuga shield-bashed him in the face, and when Fennec smirked, glared daggers at him. "Not. One. Word."

Alley Cat knocked out the last one, then flared up at the monitor. "Well, mayor? What now?"

Pink Slip grimaced and the screen turned off. Ladybug shook her head. "She can't escape that way. Lucky Charm!"

A stick of black-spotted dynamite landed in her hand. She blinked at it, then smirked. "Well then. Alley Cat, be a dear and bring the house down."

Alley Cat nodded and placed his ring hand on the wall of the building. "Cataclysm."

The whole thing crumbled, mortar dissolving, bricks crumbling instantly to rubble. The top half of the building crashed to the ground as the destructive infection of Cataclysm wiped out the bottom.

The dust cleared, and Alley Cat marvelled at the destruction he had caused. "I owe Plagg some extra cheese. The really, really stinky kind."

The rubble shifted and Pink Slip made an appearance. Honeybee had her wrapped up in a matter of seconds, pulling her over and casually pressing a hand into her back. "Venom!"

The villainess went stiff. Ladybug examined her. Where was the akuma?

There was the sound of huffing and puffing as the boy with blue hair stumbled over. "Ack... hate... running... it's the wristband!"

Ladybug pulled back Pink Slip's sleeve and found out that he was right. Against the pinkish-white skin was a wristband with designs in black and magenta. She pulled it off and tore it in half. "No more evildoing for you, little akuma!"

Once the butterfly was purified, and everything had gone back to normal, Ladybug looked over to where the boy was. "Hey, thanks for-"

He was gone, and there was no evidence he had ever existed. She frowned. "Huh. Another mystery to work out."

"What?"

She sighed and turned to face Ryuko. "You think I can come over to your place later? I'm gonna need some help with something I'm trying to figure out."

"Certainly. Shall we invite the others? Our chef's cinnamon buns are to die for."

"Sounds good to me. We're going to need all the brainpower we can get."

…

On the banks of the Seine, long after the rest of Paris had fallen asleep, a boy and a girl met up. This was no innocent midnight meetup, but the organization of a mysterious cabal...

The boy frowned. "How's the plan proceeding?"

"I think it's going well. I'm scheduled to start at their school tomorrow, so I'll be able to gather more surveillance, maybe place a few magical eavesdropping devices."

"Are you sure you have enough power for that?"

The girl smirked. "I've got you to help me with that, don't I? And you'd better hold onto this if I'm going into hostile territory. It'll be safer with you."

The boy with blue hair named Will grinned as he caught the length of copper chain and placed the locket around his neck. "Of course I can lend a hand. I've got plenty of power to contribute."

He opened the locket and studied the form of a stunningly beautiful woman in a turquoise, peacock-feathered dress, her long dark hair rolling over her bare shoulders, a familiar brooch gleaming on her chest. "That's what I was made to do, after all."


	4. Tesseract

**Chapter 4. This one doesn't feature any of the akumas you guys sent in, because I wanted to answer a question that some of you might be asking: what happened to Bunnyx if Alix isn't going to receive the Rabbit Miraculous anymore? That's what Tesseract is going to tell us.**

…

Marinette stood on her balcony and stretched, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight. They'd gotten a new student in their class- a girl named Naomi had taken Lila's place, since the liar had been... er, _recalled_ to Italy. She wasn't sure what had happened, but she'd heard something about a military school.

Then the air beside her was torn open by the sudden appearance of a Burrow portal. Bunnyx stuck her head out. "Marinette, you need to come with me, ASAP! It's an emergency!"

A burst of pink light enveloped Marinette in Ladybug's suit. "What happened?"

"The future! It's disappearing from existence, and you're the only one that can stop it!"

She walked into the portal. Bunnyx's Burrow glimmered with thousands of screens, but the rabbit hero only had eyes for one. "Look."

Ladybug did so. Through the Burrow was an image of Earth, but ripples of silvery-white were cascading over it. Everything was beginning to disappear. She gasped. "What's happening?"

Bunnyx grimaced. "As far as I can tell, the difference in timelines is that you got akumatized. But don't worry! I can send you back in time and you can catch the akuma before it-"

A burst of light sprang from another portal, and a pale man that most definitely had the Rabbit Miraculous active sprang through. "Ladybug, do not listen to her!"

Bunnyx glared. "You again? It doesn't matter what you do! The correct timeline has to be restored! Besides, Ladybug'll like it more than your future! Married to Luka, the Fox Miraculous belonging to Marc, Adrien and Chloe in prison?"

Ladybug blinked, then glared at Bunnyx. "And what's your timeline like?"

"You'll love it! Alya's one of Paris's top news reporters, Chloe's running her father's hotel, and you're married to Adrien with a vacation property in Hawaii, and you have three kids and a cat and a hamster-"

"No."

Bunnyx stared. "Pardon me?"

"Any timeline in which I am married to _that_ is completely unacceptable. And where does Lila fit into this?"

"Well... it turns out she was a liar like you said... b-but you forgave her, and now she's Paris's ambassador to Italy-"

Ladybug shook her head. "No. That timeline has who I was. I rather prefer who I am now. And if this timeline is proceeding to a marriage with Luka-" she stopped to blush- "...then that's where it leads. Formerly-Future-Me gave you the Rabbit Miraculous because she thought you could keep secrets. Now you're just using it to preserve the existence of the future you think is best. You aren't even keeping secrets. You're spilling them all because you know that if I do what you say, I'll fade into nonexistence and you'll never have to mention to anyone that I ever existed."

She turned to the male Rabbit wielder. "Take me back home... what was your name again?"

He grinned. "Arthur, but you can call me Arctic Hare. I was one of Luka's classmates at school. And university. And his best man at his wedding."

"Impressive credentials."

He nodded and began leading towards a different Burrow portal, but Bunnyx suddenly punched him, lunging at Marinette. "Fine then! I'll take your Miraculous and correct time myself!"

Arctic Hare coughed. "Yeah, I figured you'd say that. And that's exactly why I brought along reinforcements."

Another Burrow flashed, and a pair of figures dashed through and knocked Bunnyx away- a boy with the Mouse Miraculous, and another with the Dragon.

Ladybug raised her eyebrow. "And you two are?"

The Dragon wielder grinned. "Yuki Tsurugi. And that's my boyfriend, Hugo Couffaine. You can call us Kairyu and Mouse Boy."

Ladybug stared at the Mouse hero, who could only be her future son. "_Mouse Boy?_"

"I was pressed for time, and Louis won't stop teasing me about it! Cut me some slack!"

Kairyu held up his sword. "We'll hold her off. You get out of here."

Ladybug nodded. "Future Me and Future Kagami must be very proud of you."

"She wouldn't have retired if she didn't trust me with this thing!"

Ladybug made a dash for the Burrow, and sprang through just as Bunnyx's shriek of rage made itself known.

…

Bunnyx stumbled through another Burrow and into a room in the back of the Louvre, knowing full well she wouldn't be disturbed. She took stock of her injuries- broken leg, probably a concussion, and definitely a missing finger. Kairyu was _merciless._

Then she looked at that hand again and saw the silver distortion beginning to creep up it, and felt the itching sensation of her molecules beginning to fade from existence. "No... I've gotta get the Ladybug Miraculous and fix the future!"

She thrust out her hand. "Burrow!"

Nothing happened. She frowned and thrust it out again. "Burrow. Burrow! BURROW!"

No portal appeared. Arctic Hare had shut her out.

She let out a scream of fury. "NO! That stupid- he's preserving the wrong timeline! He just wants to sustain his existence! And once I'm gone, nobody's be able to stop him!"

**_Poor unfortunate soul. Perhaps I can be of assistance? Tesseract, I am Grayling. I will grant you complete domination over time. You can not restore your future, but you will still save it by forever removing it from the multiverse, allowing its inhabitants to live until the sun eventually explodes. However, in return, you must bring me the Cat Miraculous._**

Tesseract grinned. "It's a deal, Grayling!"

…

"...Happy birthday to yooou!"

Marc grinned, and in as deep a voice as he could, added, "And many more!"

Anarka grinned and slung her arm over Luka's shoulder. "Yer 18th birthday! Congratulations, laddie! And welcome to adulthood!"

"You dropped out of high school, live on a boat with two children, sail around the world, and make money off the occasional concert and alimony checks from your ex-husband."

"Exactly! I'm giving you an example of what not to do!"

A sudden explosion interrupted the festivities. Luka groaned. "Mom, don't eat all the cake. You're on a diet."

"Relax, laddie! I'll be fine!"

Six bursts of light flashed around the room, and six superheroes dashed out through the door. Anarka promptly turned to the cake. "Alright, big boy. It's just you, and me!"

…

Ladybug let out a groan the moment they saw the akuma. "Yeah, I should've seen this coming."

Buynnx's costume was now almost identical to Timebreaker's, but with her mask instead of a helmet, and rabbit ears made out of green glass. "I am Tesseract! Alley Cat, surrender your Miraculous to me!"

Fennec wordlessly conjured a Mirage, and Honeybee turned invisible. Seven duplicates of her charged Tesseract, who simply chuckled. "You think that'll work? Rewind!"

The illusions halted, then zipped right back where they came from, shifting into a ball of orange light and re-entering Marc's Miraculous. The illusion on the real Honeybee flickered out of existence, exposing her. "Uh, Fennec? Corrective measures?"

Fennec raised his flute to his lips. "Just a sec-"

A blast of purple-and-green lightning struck him, and he instantly disappeared. Tesseract flicked her other hand at Honeybee, and she disappeared as well. "That's two scattered across time. Now for the other three."

She fired again. Tortuga sprang forwards. "Shellter!"

Tesseract snapped her fingers. "Freeze!"

Tortuga's form became immobile and the blast struck her, zapping her away. Ryuko roared in defiance. "Wind Dragon!"

Two seconds later, a tornado was whirling towards Bunnyx, who shook her head. "Don't you ever learn? Rewind."

The tornado resolidified into Ryuko, and the Dragon heroine was promptly vaporized. Ladybug simply stared at the spots where almost her entire team had been completely decommissioned. "We need reinforcements. Run!"

Alley Cat took off, running right alongside her. Tesseract cackled. "You can't escape me, Ladybug! Re-"

"Cataclysm!"

The street exploded into a cloud of dust as Alley Cat slammed his hand into it. A moment later, the rubble was sinking back into the street, but Alley Cat quickly found another distraction, blasting a car to shrapnel with his fingertip. "As long as she's rewinding what I do, I can still use my powers!"

"Yeah, but she can still probably tell where we- idea."

"What?"

Ladybug stared seriously at him. "Blow up Paris."

He grimaced, then nodded and slammed his hand on the ground again. From that epicentre, the destruction exploded outwards, turning everything in its path to dust. It began rewinding a moment later, but too late- Tesseract snarled upon realizing that Ladybug and Alley Cat had escaped. "They won't be able to hide. They'll have to come out eventually."

…

Back at the bakery, the two heroes had finished consulting Master Fu, who only had ears for one detail- "You are 18 years old today?"

"Yes, but I don't see how that has any rela-"

"It means you are not limited by the time limits of your transformation! You can use Cataclysm as many times as you wish!"

Ladybug grinned. "Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that! Plus we might be able to use the Snake Miraculous as well!"

Alley Cat nodded.

…

Five minutes later, he had slipped on the bangle. "So, all I have to say is, 'Unify'?"

Sass nodded. "That'sss it in a nutshell."

"Alright. Plagg, Sass, Unify!"

A whirl of light welcomed Vipercat into the world, the fusion hero grinning. "Not bad. Although, we're still gonna need rein-"

Four glowing Burrow portals sprang suddenly into existence, and the rest of their team fell out of them. Fennec shivered and groaned. "Ice age. _Never again._"

Arctic Hare poked his head out of one of them. "Is that good, or do you-"

Ladybug grinned. "No, I think we have what we need. Lucky Charm!"

A clay statue of a snake biting its own tail fell into her hand. "A snake? What is this supposed to- _ohhh._ Thank you, Tikki. Let's move, people!"

…

Tesseract smirked and turned around. "Well, well, well. I knew you'd be coming back. I didn't expect you to be using two Miraculous, but that'll just be a bonus for Grayling, I expect."

Vipercat shrugged. "Yeah... but you're going to have to get them off of me first."

Tesseract smirked. "That can be arranged. But... why should I do it myself when I can just do this?"

She flicked her hand and blasted him to wherever Grayling was going to be in five minutes. "And now that that's handled-"

A flash of golden light blazed into existence, and Vipercat stood before her once more. "Nice try, but that won't work on me." He tapped the side of his head, right behind his ear. "Adjust your course by approximately five degrees to the left."

"What- oh, right. Snake Mira- OH SH-"

Honeybee's Venom pierced her shoulder, and Vipercat casually reached into her pocket and pulled out Tesseract's Miraculous. "Cataclysm."

One shower of ashes later, Ladybug's yo-yo was snatching up an akuma. "Bye-bye, little butterfly! Miraculous Ladybug!"

A whirlwind of shimmering insects spiralled into Paris, but then touched Tesseract. The villain let out a piercing scream as the ladybugs turned from red to a glittery silver, then flew away, leaving no sign that Tesseract had ever existed.

Ladybug grimaced. "That was... well."

Vipercat placed a hand on her shoulder. "Her future doesn't exist anymore. She was clinging to an existence she shouldn't have had. Miraculous Ladybug repairs and corrects damages from akuma attacks. It's hardly surprising that she disappeared."

Ladybug took in a deep breath, then let it out. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

It still wouldn't stop Bunnyx's violent unexistence from weighing on her conscious.

…

The moment they returned to the houseboat, the first thing they saw was Anarka trapped in Skolopendra's tentacles, screaming, "Leggo of me, ya stupid octopus!"

Luka shook his head. "She tried to eat the cake, didn't she?"

**…**

**And there you have it. Goddess of War exists in an entirely different part of the multiverse, and is unconnected to the future we've seen in episodes like Timetagger and Cat Blanc. Hopefully that clears up some stuff.**

**Next chapter: Telena (thank you, ****ProudGeek4Ever)**


	5. Dhala

**Chapter 5! Yay! And slight change in plans. I'm not using Telena. Instead... Dealer Diva belongs to ****DragoonSensei. I'm sorry she gets such a small scene, but I'll show her off more fully in a later chapter, I promise. Unless, of course, you're fine with what I've done with her.**

**Also, I am so sorry I kept you guys waiting so long for this chapter! The main problem here is that, unfortunately, I'm a student who actually gives a damn about his grades, so I was doing all the work I was sent online, which was really keeping me busy. I really thought I'd have more time for this stuff with quarantine around, but nope!**

**…**

The akuma cackled as she soared above the ground on a giant playing card. "Give me your Miraculous!"

Five seconds later, a yo-yo sent her sprawling across the ground, Ladybug riding a platform of wind that was definitely Ryuko. "When has that _ever _worked?! We're not just gonna give you the Miraculi because you're trying to kill us!"

Dealer Diva's face instantly stiffened and went purple, a familiar voice issuing from her lips. "Milady, don't be so ridiculous! I know they've tricked you into thinking you don't love me, but you have to fight it! You have to give me back my ring so we can be a couple again!"

"You're delusional. Alley Cat, now!"

The cat hero instantly sprang down, his staff a blur of silver and metal, but Dealer Diva was instantly released from Adrien's thrall, spinning to hurl a red card directly into his face, where it exploded. The resultant wave of force and heat struck Ladybug like a cannonball, knocking her off her perch and forcing Ryuko into rematerializing. The villainess cackled and took off down the street, grabbing one of the bystanders who hadn't been quick enough to flee and pressing a black card against his neck. Blood instantly trickled to the ground from the shallow cut. "Give me your Miraculous, or he bites it!"

Honeybee instantly froze from where she'd been prepping to use Venom, Tortuga freezing beside her. Ladybug struggled to her feet, knowing full well that Fennec had stopped moving on the rooftop where he'd been stationed. _What to do, what to do?! We won't be able to rescue him before she slices his throat, and Miraculous Ladybug'll bring him back, but I don't want him to have the trauma of remembering his own death! I had enough of that crap to deal with with Syren!_

The decision was made for her. Blue tendrils lashed out at lightning speed, almost too fast for Ladybug to track, and wrapped around Dealer Diva's hand, pulling it away from the hostage. Another five tendrils seized the hostage and hurled him clear.

Ladybug blinked, then looked to the left and noticed the... very _blue _person standing right there. Blue hoodie, navy fingerless gloves, dark jeans, blue and white trainers, and a blue spandex domino mask. They hurled themselves forwards and slammed into Dealer Diva, sending both sprawling across the ground, where they grabbed the card pack resting against her hip like a gun holster, threw it at Honeybee, and lept into the air, instantly disappearing from view.

Honeybee speared the pack, and when the akuma was purified ten seconds later, Ladybug could only ask one question: "What the *bleep* just happened?!"

…

Later at the bakery, she asked exactly that of Master Fu, plus a few other questions.

"In order, Marinette: Adrien cannot akumatize two people at once, I still have the Peacock Miraculous here, so they could not have been a sentimonster, and I do not know of any other Miraculi that could have given them such powers."

Marinette grimaced. "So, not many options then."

Her father shrugged. "Shame you can't just track them down and ask them."

"Yeah."

Three seconds later, Marinette facepalmed and whipped out her phone. "What an _idiot _I am! Papa, if anyone asks for me, tell them I'm busy with Jagged's commission. Now, where did I leave the Dog Miraculous?"

…

That evening, they all met up on the roof of Kagami's house. Ladybug carefully opened the box holding the Dog Miraculous, releasing the bright sphere of reddish-brown light that coalesced into the form of Barkk, who let out a happy squeal upon her summoning. "Ladybug! It's a pleasure to properly meet you! I assume my services are needed?"

Ladybug nodded and pulled out the card pack, which Dealer Diva's civilian form had agreeably let them borrow for the evening. "We need to track someone down, and we think their scent is still on this thing. Pick a wielder, any wielder."

Barkk zipped around, giving each of them a careful sniff, before deciding on Tortuga. "You know how to use Unification?"

Tortuga slipped the choker on. "Ladybug taught us. Wayzz, Barkk, Unify!"

In a blaze of light, Turtledog (who mainly still looked like Tortoise, except for the bands of reddish-pink running up her legs and torso) stood before them, before picking up the card pack. "Let's hope this works. Forage!"

She sniffed at the air and almost instantly picked out a scent trail, before a blue trail of light appeared before her. "I think it's this way! C'mon!"

Ryuko held up a hand. "Wait. The person we're tracking might be hostile. I suggest Fennec, Honeybee, and I stay behind as reinforcements. The three of you are more approachable, at any rate."

Ladybug nodded. "Good thinking, Ryuko. That reminds me, I brought additional reinforcements."

She reached into her yo-yo's pocket dimension, brought out a box, and handed it to Ryuko. "I think you'll be able to make good use of this. Since the Peacock's been repaired, Duusu's been going stir-crazy."

Ryuko nodded and took the box. "Let's see if we can fix that." She pinned the brooch just below her left shoulder. "Longg, Duusu, Unify!"

Her new costume was more elaborate- a dark blue skirt running down from her waistline with stripes across her red torso, replaced the gold accents on her mask with pink ones, and turned her skin a pale shade of indigo. "Ready."

Ladybug nodded. "Turtledog, lead the way!"

…

Four minutes later- it was a very good thing that the unified Turtledog wasn't on a timer until she used Shellter- they had found a relatively small house, where a girl was laughing at something on a television, while a boy with- blue hair, it was him!

Alley Cat took point, the green tips in his hair shining briefly in the streetlight. He easily vaulted down from the building roof and rang the doorbell.

The boy with blue hair answered it a moment later, with a laughing call of, "Relax, Nayo, I'll be right ba-" He turned forwards and saw Alley Cat. His cheerful expression promptly became one of panic.

Alley Cat smirked. "Hi. I'm Alley Cat, you might have heard of me. Would you happen to know anything about a blue-haired kid with superpowers who did a vigilante act today?"

Dead silence. Then blue tendrils sprouted from the boy's fingertips and wrapped around Alley Cat's wrists and ankles, before, with a heaving motion, he sent the hero flying across the street. "Naomi, get your mom and get to the basement! I'll hold them off!"

He sprang nimbly into the street and lashed his tendrils towards the roof, seizing Turtledog and pulling her down. Ladybug grimaced. _So much for that plan. _She let out a sharp whistle, and a quiet tune answered her. "Mirage!"

As she leapt down from the rooftop, dozens of Mirage Ladybugs poured into the street, all of them hurling their yo-yos into the air with cries of, "Lucky Charm!" in unison with the real one- and all of them grinned as the gun she'd gotten to use against Malediktator fell into their hands.

And then, with a lash of indigo, the gun was in their adversary's hands instead. "Oh, come on!"

The kid twirled the weapon above his head, then fired it. Paintballs splattered against the illusion Ladybugs in a wave of red and black while the real one was pulled out of the way by Honeybee's trompo. The bee hero grimaced. "What's the plan, LB?"

"Probably what we did with Vixen! Trap him in Shellter, then have Ryukujaku drench him!"

The hybrid hero in question wordlessly sprang towards the battlefield and began to summon Water Dragon, only to be seized and pinned against a lamppost. She grimaced. "So much for that plan."

Then the Peacock Miraculous glimmered. "Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

While she was trying to puzzle it out, Honeybee, Alley Cat, and Tortuga apparently decided trapping their adversary and paralyzing him might not be a bad idea.

The trio hurled themselves towards him from three different directions, and Tortuga promptly called for Shellter, before the lashing blue tendrils seized her and Honeybee and bashed them into the force field at either side. Alley Cat summoned Cataclysm and charged, but was snatched as well before their assailant slammed him against the shield, causing Cataclysm to degrade it into nothing.

Ladybug grimaced, reminded unpleasantly of the fact that _oh yeah, she had a time limit_ when her earrings beeped. She quickly twirled her yo-yo to block a lash from the boy's tendrils, before he grabbed a pair of lampposts and _hurled _himself at her, legs tucked up to kick her. She ducked under him, but found herself grappled by tendrils of indigo.

"You don't have much time left, Ladybug! Either you leave, or you detransform and I gift-wrap you and leave you to squeeze your way out!"

"Interesting proposal. Allow me to identify a third option."

He spun at the sound of Ryukujaku's voice, only to collapse to the ground, letting out a shout of pain. The heroine in question stood with her fingers prepared to snap. "One more step, and you know what I'll do!"

Ladybug frowned, not liking the fact that she didn't know what was happening, but given that Ryukujaku seemed to have the situation under control, she figured that there was time to ask the hybrid here: "Okay, what's going on?"

"I wasn't sure at first, but I'm definitely sensing an amok, Ladybug! He's a sentimonster!"

The sentimonster in question shakily got to his feet, with a grin that was half pained, half sheepish. "Guilty. I'm a sentimonster made by Pavana, a Peacock wielder from India around... 1631, I think?"

Ladybug blinked a few times, then shrugged. "You know what, after all the nonsense we've seen in the past year and a half, I'm very much willing to believe that."

"I'm sorry about the whole attacking you guys thing, but... well, when you're created for the sole purpose of granting your creator's family companionship and protection... you take your job pretty seriously."

"That's it?"

"I was the last one she made before she had to give up the Peacock Miraculous. She wanted someone who was essentially immortal to look after her family after she was gone- she was _such _a momma bear. Anyways, if you'd like, you can take your team in here- Naomi and Gretchen won't mind, I'm sure- to recover after that beat-up."

Ladybug shrugged. "We might take you up on that. What's your name?"

"Well, Pavana called me Dhala when she poofed me into existence, but I've been using a few pseudonyms over the centuries, so you can call me Will."

"...Will? Really?"

"I thought it sounded fine. Short and simple."

Ladyug nodded and began to collect her team. Who knew? Maybe they'd get a new ally out of this.

…

Nathaniel was not having a fun month. First, Marc had broken up with him. Then Marc had become a supervillain helping an akumatized Marinette and trapped him in what was basically an ocean of Marinette's bad memories involving him (he was very much thankful there had been nothing about Evillustrator kidnapping her). _Then _it had been discovered that Lila was, in fact, lying about just about everything except her name and gender, and the class had immediately disintegrated into chaos.

Alya, the sole person who still had any faith in Lila, had been arguing non-stop with Nino.

Chloe and Sabrina weren't taking to each other.

Marinette was hanging out with Juleka and Rose instead of anyone else.

Kim was without Max, who was undergoing psychological evaluation to figure out why he'd believed a napkin could take one of his eyes out, especially when he was wearing glasses.

Nino was in a weird depressive slump without Adrien, who had left school entirely after the discovery that his father was Hawk Moth.

Lila was apparently in an asylum in Italy, having been driven completely insane by the experience they'd all gone through in Personal Hell, with Ladybug had failed to cure.

Alix was quiet for the first time in her life.

Ivan and Mylene were the sole islands of stability in the ocean of chaos that the Akuma Class had become.

Things couldn't get much worse.

Nathaniel came out of this stupor just in time to regret challenging the universe, as the akuma entered his pencil.

_Evillustrator. I am Grayling._

Nathaniel threw the pencil across the room. "No! I won't do it, no matter what you do to me!"

_Why would I do something to hurt you? I just want to set the world back to the way it should be. Your class will be whole again. Everything will be exactly as it was before._

"B-but... Lila-"

_It doesn't matter. Imagine what a rewind would do for you!_

Nathaniel barely had the strength of mind to grab a marker and put ink to paper. "A-a clean slate?"

_Fresh as a new sketch pad._

Nathaniel dropped the marker as he sank into an ice-cold ocean of darkness. "Just tell me what you want."

Dark miasma rolled over him, and Evillustrator took his place, smirking as he left out the window, not even noticing the message Nathaniel had left behind.

R E D O

**…**

**And... done! I've kinda wanted to do some Nathaniel redemption since I reread Goddess of Strife, so this is how I'm going to. I'm also setting up some stuff similar to the Specials on the show... starting quite soon actually! Until then, though, stay tuned!**


	6. I'm Renaming the Fic (more inside)

Hey, readers! Glad to see you haven't completely given up on me, what with my prolonged absence and all. But I'm not here to talk about that.

Lately, I've been feeling weird about the name of this fic. I've been raised in a somewhat religious household, so naming my fics "Goddess of Strife" and "Goddess of War" has really been bugging me.

Therefore, I'm rebranding the story. I'm renaming it "Bringer of War" to ease my conscience somewhat. You're all going to know that regardless of if you read this or not, but I still feel that you all deserve to know so that you aren't wondering why you're getting alerts for a story that you aren't following. The rebrand will occur on August 7, which is hopefully enough time for you all to take notice.

(I'm also rewriting Goddess of Strife. More on that in that fic.)

Hopefully you won't get too confused by this. An update will be coming somewhat once I finish Evillustrator 2: Electric Boogaloo, so please stay tuned!


End file.
